Articles

There are three important ways in which customer relationship management (CRM) practices often fail.

The Web has made it easier than ever to reconnect with long-lost professional colleagues. Does it pay to do so?

Virtual worlds have been slow to catch on in businesses — but employees familiar with the technology may help.

From time to time a project truly stands out, creating exceptional value and having an impact on the industry.

Project networks provide the expertise to handle complex, knowledge-intensive team projects.

The timeline of energy development projects now is largely driven by sustainability and social performance issues, says Marvin Odum, president of Shell Oil Company. That's prompting innovations in how the company involves external stakeholders, incentivizes employees and drives changes throughout the entire energy industry. "When I look at an investment proposal now," says Marvin Odum, president of Shell Oil Company, "it still covers the technical issues, of course. It certainly covers the financial issues. But fully half of that proposal deals with what I would call the non-technical risk: social performance and sustainability issues." Like other energy companies, Shell is in a classic "rock and a hard place" situation. The world wants what Shell provides, but it wants it when it wants it, at a price it likes to pay, and with positive or at least neutral environmental and social impact. That's forced the company to adapt its traditional innovation approach and even its overall organizational structure in some surprising ways. The need for those changes has also been heightened by the environmental damage and public relations disaster of the BP oil spill in 2010, Odum says. "What the Gulf of Mexico spill shows us is we are dependent on how the whole industry performs; it affects a part of our license to operate." This is true even though Shell enjoys a reputation for sustainability performance that is stronger than that of most other energy companies. Still, dealing with the broader public perception and wariness that greets energy companieshas become a major focus of the company. Today, managing the concerns of external stakeholders has prompted changes in management approaches and strategy internally, and sustainability issues have moved in Shell from being a company "priority" to a "core value." Odum's responsibilities at Shell Oil include exploration, new business development, and venture management as well as stakeholder management and sustainable development. He spoke with Michael S. Hopkins, editor-in-chief of MIT Sloan Management Review, about what a shift in "core values" really means for company operations and management.

All companies collect data, and they want to act on that data, but they also want to make sure it is accurate. Better to wait on a decision until you have the absolutely correct information than act based on partial information. That might make sense, but it's the wrong way to go, say the top two executives at Attivio, a privately-held enterprise software company. The problem with focusing on getting the numbers too right is that most companies sacrifice speed for accuracy. Companies have been trained to think about data all wrong, say Ali Riaz and Sid Probstein, CEO and CTO respectively of Attivio. Analytics don't have to be based on super-precise data, they say. "The report doesn't have to be perfect. It needs to capture the behavior, not the totality of it." For analytics to work, companies need a new philosophy around leadership, decision-making, and performance management. One important element is the ability to consider a bigger picture and frame within which to consider the new kinds of data that is being gathered. Riaz and Prostein spoke with MIT Sloan Management Review editor-in-chief Michael S. Hopkins about the stifling downside of the quest for perfect data, why "eventually consistent" is a concept every company should take to heart, and how to deal with the need for speed.

Companies need to understand and manage the rising threat of online public complaining.

Sustainability assessment tools are increasingly becoming a predictor and opportunity finder for efficiency in a company's business practices. Duke Energy, a Charlotte, N.C.-based electric power company that supplies and delivers energy to approximately 4 million U.S. customers, uses something it calls the Duke Energy Sustainability Filter to encourage innovation and resource efficiency throughout the company. The tool has already saved the company millions, including over $2 million over six months in startup process for their combustion turbine plants. Roberta Bowman, who has served as senior vice president and chief sustainability officer for Duke Energy since 2008, says that the filter is a lens through which every decision in the company is made. "It's is the tool for conversation and decision-making," she says. The filter employs a series of questions around four key areas: "connection," "efficiency," "balance," and "grandchildren." The filter is one of the tools Duke shares with other organizations looking to evaluate their own risks and practices from a sustainability standpoint. "There is an openness to sharing approaches and techniques that works," says Bowman. "There is sharing and learning at a utility level, and also at a global industry level, from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development to Corporate Economic Forum." In this MIT Sloan Management Review case-study interview, Bowman explains how the filter developed, and why she hopes it puts her out of a job some day.

Ten years ago, executives looked to IT for technical solutions to support business units. Today, analytics has dramatically changed that function. As Monsanto Co. has pushed for analytics adoption throughout its organization, IT managers have become sought after for the answers they can provide to build competitive advantage and guide strategic decision making. Beth Holmes' job is to answer questions for the company through exploratory analytics -- and to advance Monsanto's organizational strategy of embedding analytics more deeply into all corners of the company's operations. Using analytics, her group has scoped out high-value sales targets, done cost modeling, improved the accuracy of sales forecasting and used multiple methodologies to aid long-range planning. The "exploratory analytics" team routinely tests assumptions about such things as commodity prices and agricultural trends. Building an understanding of potential scenarios is a critical component of the company's ability to operate profitably. Holmes spoke with MIT Sloan Management Review editor-in-chief Michael S. Hopkins about myth busting, why the simplest solution is often the smartest, and what it means to push for analytics adoption by using the IT function for leverage.